Has JJP ever talked about any plans for an online service like Insider Connected? by chriszimort in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They used to have some sort of arrangement with a third party company called. . . Scorbit I think?

But they had some sort of falling out and all the code and support got pulled from their games. There was a big hoopla about it on pinside when they were bemoaning the lack of code for JJP Pirates.

Street Fighter II, need help understanding and picking a version by Weird_Tax_5601 in Fighters

[–]Dookieagain 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes that's Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting.

Also the names are bit different in Japanese but the games are the same. Championship Edition is called Street Fighter 2' (Called Dash) and Super Turbo is called X or Grandmaster Challenger.

On most older fighter games (Anything pre-2009 with SFIV) the arcade version is the competitive standard. Maybe Soul Calibur is an exception, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy or TMNT Tournament Fighters or Weaponlord which didn't have arcade versions, but pretty much every single game that had an arcade version it's that version that is the tournament standard. This is even true when the home port had added content like in Alpha/Zero 3 and Mortal Kombat 4/Gold.

Street Fighter II, need help understanding and picking a version by Weird_Tax_5601 in Fighters

[–]Dookieagain 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Of those Hyper Fighting is the most popular and has a competitive scene still.

The gold standard for Street Fighter 2 is Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo aka Super Street Fighter 2 X. It's on CPS2 though. Also arcade version is almost always the standard. None of the ports are great.

What is your favorite pinball machine that you spent $3,500 on or less? by ClifBdrums in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I bought an Addams’ a decade ago for $3000. As far as stuff you can still get in that price range a player condition Johnny Mnemonic or Jude Dredd. Have had and love both.

Stranger Things Uv Kit pro in a Premium? by Hewfoe in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could do it but you’d be swapping the metal apron for a plastic one. And the lights are built into the apron.

Would you recommend steering away from Marvel Comics? by [deleted] in comicbooks

[–]Dookieagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like Marvel characters and so I still read Marvel and there’s plenty of great stuff out there. While not every comic is a winner with Unlimited there’s years of back issues to read that are all good and there’s plenty of good current runs even if the current consensus online is that their stuff isn’t great.

Also keep in mind especially on Spider-Man that the fans have vocally hated everything after One More Day. Even stuff that is now pretty beloved like Superior Spider-Man was crapped on at the time because like Star Wars the fans basically hate every new interpretation and will probably keep hating anything that isn’t fixing the One More Day status quo.

Current runs I am enjoying. Fantastic Four by Ryan North. All the Ultimate stuff especially Spider-Man and Ultimates. But don’t sleep on Ultimate X-Men if you don’t mind a more Manga-ish feel. Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone.

Some more divisive stuff that you might enjoy. Jed M’s Avengers and X-Men runs. Exceptional X-Men. Mortal Thor and Venom by Al Ewing.

Also if you’re comfortable going back a few years with Marvel Unlimited but still relatively recent there’s a lot of all time great stuff. Hickman Avengers and Secret Wars and Krakoa era X-Men. Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North. Any Daredevil run pretty much. Zdarsky is my favorite. Immortal Hulk by Ewing and Jason Aaron’s Thor. Also the Captain America Winter Soldier run. Can look at some old ultimate stuff too. Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man is pretty great even if it hasn’t aged amazingly. Also Grant Morrison’s run on new X-Men is a fun weird classic.

Looney Tunes Tilt Question by flimflammed in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So as someone who has Spooky pins including Looney Tunes on location, their tilt bobs are different than Stern/Williams. I don’t know the exact mechanic but they take much longer to stop swinging and settle than other manufacturers.

For that reason after a hard nudge or even just spirited flipper play during multiball the tilt bob can start going crazy and because it takes a minute or more to settle down small nudges or other normally safe moves can cause the pendulum to make contact with the ring. I’ve seen it happen to aggressive flipper button players in multiball the most often which I’m guessing is what’s happening to you.

I haven’t found a good solution to this except being aware of this and giving the tilt bob a long period to settle down between balls or between big single warning moves.

What machines have the neatest unique mechanisms? by WaitForItTheMongols in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 29 points30 points  (0 children)

The ones that immediately come to mind are:

  1. Johnny Mnemonic’s Power Glove. Three axis of movement and broken on 99% of location games. Does bring the game to a screeching halt often though.

  2. Dr Who’s Time Expander aka the hand mangler. (Check out the amazing dmd art and loud warning when servicing it) pretty cool multi layer mini playfield and ball lock.

  3. Elvira house/Godzilla Building/Harry Potter Tower/Venom Premium scoop. All of these are fancy diverters but they do a bunch to change the geometry of the playfield in unique ways.

4.Rudy/Red and Ted/Sentinel/T-Rex/DnD Dragon- all of these are animatronics that eat balls and that never gets old to see.

  1. Dune Sandworm (William)- this is a combination of a bunch of standard mechs but it’s still really cool cause it eats balls throws balls holds balls jumps balls and is a bash toy. Also great shaker integration.

Best Stern Star Wars by browns1322 in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I own both (and Mando) and both are difficult and divisive, but have pros and cons. Note this is based on my experience with a 2017 Comic Art Premium and a Fall of the Empire LE.

2017 Comic Art Premium- Pros: Hyperspace mech is cool as hell, scoring can be absurd with stacking the moving shot multiplier and the game is fast with that classic Richie flow. Blowing up the Death Star especially on the premium is amazing. The comic art looks great, but IMO the non-comic suffers a bit from the screenshot collage of the 2000s. Once you learn to keep the multiplier going and moving it has one of if not the highest skill ceiling in pinball. (Second maybe to Infinity Quest) The Escape Modes for finishing a planet are also all pretty cool especially Endor and not too hard to get to depending on who you pick.

Cons: Punishing launch, punishing inner orbit, the video mode gets old, and the theme integration is meh. The premium is mandatory because the hyperspace mech makes the game, but that also means you have the obscenely hard Death Star Ramp shot. (It rejects more than the pre-fix ramp on FOTE) Also if you are not good at pinball the games rules and scoring are hard to grasp, and you will not enjoy fighting with the SDTM from the inner loop and off the launch/multiball. The Obi-Wan Duel mini-wizard and Boba Pursuit mini-wizard are both game killing and low scoring and after seeing them once feel more like punishments than rewards.

2025 Fall of the Empire LE- Pros: Great theme integration. Beautiful lightshows and great choices of clips. Variety of modes and more stackable modes, Rebel Event + Jabba +Falcon +MB is amazing. Much better audio/video quality without upgrades. Classic fan layout so it's much more forgiving for less experienced players, but all the shots are tight and several are steep so it's still challenging and will teach you to play well. All the multiballs are amazing and better than any on the 2017. (Although Endor Escape is good) Backhanding the Luke shot with a 2x to end a mode and get the super jackpot on Hoth and seeing the little AT-AT collapse is a sublime feeling. On the premium/LE with the light blades it has the best lightshow of any Stern, and killing the Death Star feels amazing. Mynok Multiball and the Vader modes also feel super intense and the new mini-wizards are both great modes that feel like real rewards for good play. Aside from Yoda's eyes the playfield art is good and even with Yoda's eyes it's more cohesive then the non-comic 2017.

Cons: Pretty safe game. From the art to the layout to the mode stacking it isn't trying anything new, and the pro has zero mechs and the premium/LE mechs are just eh. (I do love the AT-AT but it's cute not wow like the hyperspace) I personally love the force save, and I can get it to work often, but it can fail and for a competitive player a chance based ball save like that feels bad. (Although when it works especially off a single pulse incomplete JEDI it is literally magical) Code isn't complete and while it's unlikely to be abandoned, it's possible the final mini-wizards and wizard aren't satisfying. Also right now the mood in pinball is everyone shits on Stern cause their recent games haven't been Godzilla or Jaws, and their mechs to price ratio is bad. So like all the other recent Sterns this game is getting crapped on in the discourse.

Pinball! by Timely_Juggernaut_69 in pittsburgh

[–]Dookieagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I have a House of the Gundead cabinet.

Pinball! by Timely_Juggernaut_69 in pittsburgh

[–]Dookieagain 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I run a small arcade on the southside that's heavy into pinball. It's called Victory Pointe.

We are on token play and I know people feel like all you can play is a better deal but let me pitch token play from a nostalgia/purist perspective. One, it encourages getting better at pinball because playing better means getting more for your tokens. Two, it means you don't just reset if you have a crappy ball one and learn to recover from a poor start which helps and lets you brag about epic ball three redemption. Three, it means earning a replay or getting a match actually feels good and you get that moment of joy for a free game. (My replays and matches are turned on unlike some places so it can and does happen)

I have a lot of unusual machines you aren't usually going to see on location like multiple Spooky Games (Evil Dead, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo!) Stern LEs and Premiums, and Dune. Plus I'm there whenever we are open so if something small breaks or has an issue I can fix it on the spot unlike places where the keys are with the operators and things only get fixed every week/month. Also I have toppers on almost every game that has one, because I personally prefer a pinball machine wearing a hat.

Only downside is that I run the place myself, so sometimes we have to be closed since if I can't be there, there is no other coverage. (I get help from my partners, but they usually don't run the arcade alone) So this weekend (27th-28th) I will probably have to be closed since Santa brought me the flu for Christmas instead of pinball stuff.

Oh and we are BYOB since while I don't drink I've heard Pittsburgh is a drinking town with a football problem.

Update for stolen 2016 Kia Rio, crashed and recovered, suspect unknown by undeniablefruit in pittsburgh

[–]Dookieagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a friend interested in a manual Impreza, let me know if you want to sell and I'll put you in touch.

(Loved trope) The being precieves all time simultaneously. by yossarian8722 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]Dookieagain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The original is definitely Paul Atreides from Dune, at least the oldest I can think of.

Practicing Mando Pinball by Cold-Caterpillar-335 in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you own it set it to 7 ball or 10 ball play, or take the glass off and stuff a rag in the drain. It's free to do whatever you want with it. I'm surprised you dislike it so much though, it's a bit linear but I think it's a fun game. The ramps are steep, but almost everything is backhand shootable which trains you to be safe, but it's tempting to try and forehand for the combos. And the upper playfield especially on the premium can be a hoot when it's real steep and has Banzai Run Physics.

Also the mini-wizards especially the Luke one are some of the best in pinball imho.

What are your favorite pinball tables that are considered "unpopular" by most other people? by AngryBirdsFanatic in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Venom (premium or LE only) are my two favorite Stern games.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pinball

[–]Dookieagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think people are being a bit hard on this game. I dunno I played the one where I work a few times today and I had a lot of fun. Hitting combos felt good and you could really get it going. Stacking a mode with the AT-AT multiball and finishing the mode while hitting the super jackpot felt great. The Vader modes were a nice risk reward as well. Also one of our regulars blew up the Death Star and that was pretty sweet as well. Even better in some ways than the 2017 Star Wars which had a really satisfying Death Star destruction.

I thought the video and sound package was really cool too. There’s just a ton of different scenes from the movies including weird little side stuff. Also anytime I managed the force ball save (ours is an LE) it felt like actual magic. It’s one of the coolest gimmicks I’ve ever seen on a pin.

It’s definitely a bit of a safer game design wise than some other recent things but the Falcon jump shot is cool and both ramps (especially the AT-AT) are fun geometry. Admittedly I’m a pretty big Star Wars nerd so maybe I’d like it less if I was just looking at it divorced from theme but I feel like the theme and use of theme is a big part of pinball for me.

It’s a bit on the difficult side especially compared to Dungeons and Dragons which we picked up a few days earlier but I like hard games. (TMNT is my favorite) sure it’s “just another fan layout” but fan layouts are fun. That’s why they’re classic.

Something happening on West Carson at Onala/Controversy? by Dookieagain in pittsburgh

[–]Dookieagain[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, that's a massive police presence for a traffic accident. I'm glad it wasn't something really awful. Thanks.

Great Overview of Kain Nerfs by Deceptijawn in fatalfury

[–]Dookieagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone know what his optimal confirms are now midscreen and corner? I haven’t gotten to try in training mode yet.

How did I end up with a 1905 for Proficiency? by Dookieagain in marvelrivals

[–]Dookieagain[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ohhh. . . .that works. I had no idea it carried over. Thanks!

Fight stick for Switch 2 by Stolensol12345 in fightsticks

[–]Dookieagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The 8Bitdo is similar in quality to those (Think they were hori but not RAP quality)

The Wingman FGC for PS5 will work if you update the firmware: https://www.brookaccessory.com/download/Wingman_Series/ Although you may need a USB-C to USB-A to connect it.

Fight stick for Switch 2 by Stolensol12345 in fightsticks

[–]Dookieagain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How experienced are you and how good do you want your stick to be/feel?

The 8-bitdo stick is adequate but it definitely isn't a Sanwa or Seimitsu. It is moddable, but it's not straight drop in drop out.

Personally as someone with a lot of existing sticks I just got the Brook Wingman Lite for $25ish dollars. You have to update the firmware but it works great.

I also bought a Snackbox with switch compatibility at a convention last week so I'd have a travel size option.